Cheers to a Fan Favorite – Hollywood Life

It’s cheesy, it’s crunchy, and the choice for every girl dinner. Of course, we’re talking about the Caesar Salad.

On the Fourth of July, this staple dish reached a milestone by turning 100 years old. Invented in Mexico in 1924 by Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini, the savory flavors of the Caesar salad have endured, creating a genuine love for the dish. The table-side preparation of the salad, most often done throughout the 60s and 70s, made right before patrons’ eyes, has also contributed to its enduring popularity.

So, Caesar Salad Is Not Italian?

Beth Forrest, a professor of liberal arts and applied food studies at the Culinary Institute of America, mentioned the recipe echoes old Italian specialties. It resembles a pinzimonio, a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice used as a vegetable dip, or a bagna cauda, a hot dip of anchovy and garlic from the Piedmont region where Cardini was born.

But this star is most definitely of Mexican origin. At Caesar Cardini’s restaurant, Caesar’s Place, in Tijuana, Mexico, Cardini once struggled to feed an influx of Californians who had crossed the border to escape Prohibition. In an attempt to feed people with limited resources, Cardini tossed whole Romaine leaves with ingredients he had on hand, including garlic-flavored oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemons, eggs and Parmesan cheese. Voila!

What Is The Original Recipe?

What Are Some Variations of the Caesar Salad Recipe?

The creator was not inclined to vary his recipe. In a 1987 interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, his daughter Rosa Cardini said her father was very precise in preparing his creation. He used only the tender, inner leaves of Romaine lettuce and left them whole, intending diners to pick them up with their fingers. He boiled the eggs for one minute before adding them, and contrary to Alex Cardini III, Rosa claims he didn’t use anchovies.

At Beatrix, a chain of five restaurants in Chicago that makes healthier versions of comfort foods, chef and partner Andrew Ashmore spreads a spoonful of yogurt-based dressing at the bottom of the salad bowl and mixes it with capers, parsley, lemon vinaigrette and champagne vinegar before adding little gem lettuce, baby arugula, bread crumbs and a generous shaving of Grada Padano cheese.

“It’s our number one selling salad, and it has been since we opened 11 years ago,” Ashmore said. “I couldn’t try to take it off the menu if I wanted to.”

In Celebration, Change Up The Way You Eat Your Caesar… For Fun!

Crunchy Chicken Caesar Sub

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